Perilous Ventures / Gewaagde Zaken was established in 2005 by dramaturge and publicist Ingrid van Schijndel with the aim of being able to facilitate and initiate a variety of projects.
Gewaagde Zaken is concerned, succinctly phrased, with the Body, the fateful anatomy. Gewaagde Zaken is variously concerned with the body, in different ways:
from philosophical reveries about its appearance and existence in the world, to political observations about gender and race. Its manifestation in sports and the arts
(where dance, in particular, has proven to be a safe-haven) and ultimately its environmental factors and its biological conditions of existence.
In practice, Gewaagde Zaken operates as a one-person business. Ingrid van Schijndel links up, on a freelance basis, with pre-existing meaningful practices that are in some way or other occupied with the body, for instance the work of dance company Emio Greco | PC. She has written texts for this company since 2002. Together with artistic directors Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten she has developed an ongoing public debate on current dance practice.
Conversely, Ingrid van Schijndel also involves partners in her own projects. Even before the establishment of Gewaagde Zaken, she authored the rebellious pippilotta.nl as a monument to and a sanctuary for writers of contrary messages. The site still offers space for as yet unedited texts and unweeded thoughts, for the untrimmed hedgerow. A space where publicists can write liberally about women, boxing, pornography and more of the kind.
In recent years, there has been a slight shift of attention at Gewaagde Zaken: not because (philosophical meditation about) porn has become less important, but because questions regarding our living environment and the sustainability of our world as such have become urgent. After all, where else can the body play lastingly?
Sustainability, biology, evolution and ecology came in sight. Gewaagde Zaken set up a long-term project in Surinam, the S-Spot, looking for means that, on the one hand, tap sustainably into the resources of the rain forest and that, on the other hand, may be deployed creatively in the discourse on the body. Oš is a ÔbrandŐ, which aims to put a part of the resulting produce into a pot.
On the side, Gewaagde Zaken set up an online clothes exchange scheme, www.rouleerdekleer.nl, together with visual artist Mies Baars. Such, as a further reflection on sustainability closer to home.
Together with pedagogue Sandra Kensmil, Gewaagde Zaken took the initial steps to create a House of Culture and Nature. Groen. A Villa Villekulla in the heart of the city, where various generations and cultures can meet in a garden. A place where child minding goes hand in hand with nature education and where the kitchen annex is open to anyone who wants to drop in for a piece of cake or a cup of soup from the kitchen garden.
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